What do you do when you want check a resources for authenticity and accuracy? Well, fact checkers uses what's called the SIFT method. Developed by Mike Caulfield, it's a system that is meant to get researchers considering the legitimacy of information.

STEP ONE: STOP. It's time to stop and think about the website. Before you share it, spread it, cite it, or even believe it, stop and think about the resource. Consider if it seems likely. Any hesitation--even the slightest bit!--merits investigation.

STEP TWO: INVESTIGATE. Time to investigate the resource itself--who wrote it, made it, and published it? These questions will make you think about any biases or problems with the source. Open a new tab (this is called Lateral Research) and head to Wikipedia to see if you can find out more. If nothing at Wikipedia, Google the publication. For example, a website about healthy eating says that organic farming is bad for the environment, but as you dig into the website, you might find out that the website is sponsored by a multinational corporation that has been in the court for unhealthy food production, water wasting, and pesticides that have gotten in the drinking water. Problematic? Yes, yes it is.

STEP THREE: Find Better Coverage. Okay, now we get trickier. You remember your tab with Wikipedia, right? Well, pop open another tab. Look up this topic again. And again. Try new searches. And remember to be patient with this! And also check those resources too!

STEP FOUR: TRACE THE INFORMATION. Claims have been made. Are they real? Is the information true? It's time to explore the information a bit more deeply. Try using the Google Reverse Image Search to find out if an image is authentic or repurposed or doctored. Find the new terms, names, groups, and actions that occurred. These tricks can hep you to get to the bottom of it. For example, the article about organic foods might mention that a young kid had nearly died from eating rotten strawberries back in 2021. Well, look that up. See if you can find this incident to find out if it's real or modified or fake.

That's it! That's the SIFT method to help you become a fact checker and a master researcher.